Stainless Steel & Dark Wood Floors: My Secret Homemade Weapons
This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.
If you’ve been around these parts for a while, you may remember that we took on the huge undertaking of a move last winter. We always knew our first house would not be our last and with talks of the market starting to recover and home mortgage rates increasing for the first time in YEARS, now was the time.
Did we think it would happen so fast? Nope. But when we found THE HOUSE on Halloween day of last year, we did everything in our power to get our current house sold and sold FAST. December 18th, 2016 we found ourselves moving into the house of our dreams. With that house came a whole lot of stainless steel, dark laminate wood floors, and white woodwork everywhere.
This house just magically showed up with everything we’ve ever wanted. It’s like it was meant just for us 🙂 I always wanted a house with white woodwork, new stainless steel appliances, and dark wood floors. I did not look forward to learning how to keep those clean, as I had heard stainless steel and kids do not go well together, but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve that have made my life a lot easier.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: you don’t need to buy stainless steel cleaner. Trust me.
I grew up with stainless steel appliances and I was frequently the one to clean them. I’ve used stainless steel cleaner and I’ve used my secret trick and THIS TRICK IS IT! All you need are 3 simple things:
Easy Stainless Steel Cleaning Trick
- vinegar
- olive oil
- and Bounty Advanced Paper Towels
STEP ONE | Using the Bounty Advanced paper towels and vinegar, clean off any smudges and dirt from the stainless steel. I like to use Bounty Advanced paper towels because they are the strongest and most durable sheets ever (when wet vs. National Bounty original) plus they have longer select-a-sheet sizes (vs. National Market Bounty Select-A-Size) so I don’t have to constantly replace the paper towel I’m using.
STEP TWO | Take a new sheet of paper towel and pour a small amount of olive oil onto it. Using a circular motion, buff the olive oil into the stainless steel. You will know if you’re using the right amount of oil because the stainless steel will appear shiny but not feel slippery.
That’s it! I’ve found that this method not only gets your stainless steel shinier, it also repels finger prints and dirt longer.
Now onto maintaining our dark laminate wood floors. I knew that it would be quite the adjustment going from light colored vinyl floors and mostly carpet in our main level to entirely dark wood laminate. It sure is beautiful, but it also shows every. single. speck.
Through some trials and tribulations, and too many frustrations with water-streaked floors, I have found the perfect method for keeping these floors clean and streak-free. All you need are a few genius products:
Streak-Free Homemade Laminate Floor Cleaning
- Swiffer Dry refills
- Dish soap
- Rubbing alcohol
- Vinegar
- Water
STEP ONE | Remove all dust, dirt, hair, and other debris using a Swiffer sweeper and Swiffer Dry refill. Trust me on this, the Swiffer Dry refills are the most important part of all of this. I tried a plain old broom method, and that does not work. Swiffer Sweeper Dry Pad refills have 3X THE CLEANING ACTION (common inanimate allergens from cat and dog dander and dust mite matter).
STEP TWO | Follow up with a mop and this homemade floor cleaner: equal parts water/rubbing alcohol/vinegar plus a few drops of dish soap. That’s it!
Now onto the all-white trim and woodwork that fills our house. Don’t get me wrong, I adore it. I just had no idea how badly it would show every speck of dust and dirt…
Yikes! Through trial and error, I’ve found the easiest way to keep my white trim clean is with a quick sweep of a Swiffer Duster. It’s hard to get into every nook and cranny of the woodwork, but the Swiffer Dusters’ fluffy fibers trap and lock 3X* MORE dirt, hair, and allergens than a feather duster (*common inanimate allergens from cat and dog dander and dust mite matter).
If you are struggling with keeping your stainless steel, dark wood floors, and/or white woodwork clean, or you’re just looking for a more efficient and effective method, stop by Costco to pick up your P&G Household Needs products. I had my little Iron Man with to help me out 🙂
Check out my vlog to see the dirty little details and how I put these P&G products to work to make my house sparkling clean!
